Grass shears



Dec. 13, 1938-. F G HEUMANN 2,140,288

GRASS SHEAHS Filed Aug. 19, 1937 IIII llllllllll u:- "mun- BYE;

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 13, 1938 2,140,288

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRASS SHEARS Ferdinand G. Heumann, Great Neck, N. Y.

Application August 19, 1937, Serial No. 159,863

7 Claims. (01. 30-257) This invention relates to hand shears for cutfatigue and also greatly simplifies the cleaning T ting grass and the like and has for its object and oiling of the parts when required.

to provide an improved shearing device of this These and other features and advantages of type in which the actuating handles are ar the invention will be described in connection ranged at right angles to the plane of the cutwith the accompanying drawing, in which: I ting blades. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved Another object of the invention is to provide shears; a grass shears of the above type, in which all Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the shears with of the operating mechanisms and connections, the cutting blades in open position; including the pivotal connection between the Fig. 3 is a broken horizontal section taken on 1Q two cutting blades, are oblique to the plane of line 33 of Fig. 1; the blades and are thereby prevented from con- Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but with the tacting with and picking up particles of grass, cutting blades closed; weeds and the like which are frequently caught Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on line in the bearings of ordinary shears and render 5--5 of Fig. 3;

them difficult to operate. Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on line Attempts have been made to construct grass 6-6 of Fig. 4; and shears with actuating handles arranged at right Fig. 7 is a horizontal section taken on line angles to the cutting blades, it being recognized 'l-'! of Fig. 1.

that shears of this type permit the hand, wrist The drawing shows the shears as embodying 0 and arm to be held in a natural unstrained poa pair of substantially fiat companion blades I sition during the cutting operation, but so far and 2 having cutting edges 3 and 4 and rearas I am aware no practical shears of this type wardly extending flat surfaces 5 and 6 which are available on the market today. The prinare bent upwardly at an angle of about 135 cipal reason for the failure of such shears in with the flat faces of the blades as illustrated 25 the past has been the complex mechanisms rein Fig. 1. These oblique flat surfaces 5 and 6 quired to translate the vertical movement of the are superimp and pivoted together as y actuating handles into horizontal movement of means of a rivet l to form cooperating bearing the blades, which not only made the cost of surfaces for the cuttin b adesthe shears prohibitive but also made them Very The actuating mechanism for the cutting 3 difficult and tiresome to operate especially by blades comprises a pair of right-angled arms 8 a woman or other person with a weak hand or and 9 which are secured as. by rivets l0 and II wrist. The difficulty of operation was also greatto the oifset faces 5 and 6 of the respective blades ly increased by fouling due to grass and foreign I and 2, the upper portions of these arms being matter being caught in the bearings of the crossed and pivoted together as by means of a 3 blades which would invariably happen in prerivet i3. A compression spring 14, having its vious devices of this type. ends sprung over the adjacent upstanding edges My improved shears embody all the advanof arms 8 and 9 as shown in Fig. '7, tends to hold tages of a natural vertical hand grip without the cutting blades in the open position shown 40 any of the disadvantages found in previous dei Figs. 2 and 3. 40

vices of this type. In its preferred form my de- The upper portions of the actuating s 8 vice includes a pair of substantially flat comand 9, Whlch are crossed at the P point panion blades provided with the usual cutting are preferably paranfil to the obhquasurfaces edges and having rearwardly extending flat 5 and 6 of the cutting blades, and tne outer bearing surfaces which are pivoted together and formed so that they are substantially parallel to are bent upwardly at a substantial angle to the each other when the cutting blades are spread flat faces of the blades so that these healing or Open as in Figs 2 and In the form surfaces and all other actuating parts between trated, the upper edge [1 of actuating arm 9 the blades and the handles are held clear of is formed by a Separate plate or Strip of metal 5 the gmlmd d Out f Contact with the grass [8 which is riveted to the upper portion of arm when the blades are in normal cutting position. 9 and is in the same plane as the upper portion The novel construction of the operating mechaof arm 8, although it will be evident that the nism, hereinafter described, enables the shears plate l8 may be made integral with the arm 9 5 to be operated without difficulty or excessive if desired.

edges 16 and l! of these upper arm portions are 4 The actuating handles 20 and 2| of the shears are arranged in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the cutting blades I and 2 and are pivoted by rivets 22 and 23 to U-shaped bearings 24 and 25 which, in turn, are swivelled to the rivet l3 forming the pivot connection of the actuating arms 8 and 9 as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing. The handles 20 and Ill are channel-shaped and are provided adjacent their pivot points with projecting pairs of lugs 26 and 21, lugs 26 projecting downwardly from the upper handle 29 while lugs 2? project upwardly from the lower handle El, and the ends of these lugs are turned over so as to receive the upper outer edges 46 and ll of actuating arms 8 and 9 and thereby limit the opening movement of the cutting blades 5 and 2 as illustrated in the drawing.

The inner faces of the lugs 26 and 2? engaging the outer edges [5 and H of actuating arms 8 and 9 are so constructed that they slope inwardly toward their respective handles 2t and 2!. Cone sequently, when the handles 29 and 2| are grasped by the hand and pressed together the sloping faces of lugs 2i? and 2? ride over the outer edges l6 and ll of arms 8 and 9, thus causing said arms to turn about their pivot l3 and closing the cutting blades 5 and 2 against the compression of spring M as illustrated in Fig. 4. The limit of the closing movement is reached when a stop 28 on the inner edge of plate 18 on arm 9 strikes against the adjacent inner edge of arm 8 as shown in Fig. l, at which time the cutting blades of the shears are closed. As soon as the pressure on handles 25 and El is released the spring it returns the parts to the initial posi-' tion in which the cutting blades are open as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The opening movement of the cutting blades is limited by the engagement of lugs 25 and 21 with the actuating arm edges. l6 and I7, and also by the engagement of the edges 353 of blade extensions w and 2' with the respective rivets l0 and H as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 7.

It will be evident that my shears are extremely simple in construction and may be operated without excessive strain even by a person with little strength because of the small amount of power required to move the parts against the compression of the spring M, and also because the mechanism which translates the vertical movement of the handles into the horizontal blade movement permits the handles to be mounted so close together that they may easily be spanned by a small hand. In using the shears the hand, wrist and arm are held in a natural unstrained position and the flat cutting blades are held close to the grass or ground while the bearing point I and all other parts of the actuating mechanism are held clear of the ground and out of contact with the grass so that fouling due to grass and foreign matter being caught in the bearings is effectively prevented.

When desired, the cutting blades may be held closed so as to permit the handles 23 and 2i to be swivelled about their bearings 23 and 24 thus opening the handles and exposing the bearings l, 23, 24 and associated parts for removal of dust or for oiling.

It will be evident that various changes may be made in the details of construction herein shown and described without departing from the scope and spirit of my invention which is to be limited only by the appended claims when interpreted in View of the prior art.

The invention claimed is:

1. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, actuating arms secured to the respective bearing surfaces of said blades and having their outer portions crossed and pivoted together, a pair of actuating handles carried by said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades and disposed longitudinally of said blades, each of said handles being compressible with respect to the other, and means carried by said handles and cooperating with the outer portions of said actuating arms for moving said arms about their pivot to actuate said blades upon compression of said handles.

2. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, movable actuating handles carried by said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades and disposed longitudinally of said blades, and means actuated by the combined movement of said handles for actuating said blades.

3. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, a spring acting on said blades to hold same in open position, a pair of actuating handles pivoted on said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades and disposed longitudinally of said blades, each of said handles being compressible with respect to the other and means actuated by the compression of said handles for closing said blades against the action of said spring.

4. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, actuating arms secured to the respective bearing surfaces of said blades and having their outer portions crossed and pivoted together, a pair of compressible actuating handles carried by said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades, and lugs projecting from said handles into sliding engagement with the outer edges of said actuating arms, said lugs sloping inwardly toward their respective handles whereby to ride over the outer edges or" said arms to actuate said arms and said blades upon compressing said handles.

5. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, angular actuating arms secured to the respective bearing surfaces of said blades and having their outer portions crossed and pivoted together, a compression spring acting on said 75;

arms in a direction to hold said blades in open position, a pair of compressible actuating handles carried by said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades, and lugs projecting from said handles and slidably engaging the outer edges of said actuating arms, said lugs sloping inwardly toward their respective handles whereby to ride over the outer edges of said arms to actuate said arms and said blades against the action of said spring upon compressing said handles.

6. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces oblique to the plane of said blades and pivoted together so that said bearing surfaces and pivot are held clear of the object to be cut when the blades are in normal cutting position, angular actuating arms secured to the respective bearing surfaces of said blades and having their outer portions crossed and pivoted together, a pair of compressible actuating handles swivelled to the pivot of said actuating arms and pivoted to move in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said, blades, and lugs carried by said handles in sliding engagement with the outer edges of said actuating arms and having inturned edges holding said handles in engagement with said arms so as to limit the spreading of said handles, the surfaces of said lugs in engagement with said arms sloping inwardly toward their respective handles whereby to ride over the outer edges of said arms to move said arms about their pivot and thereby close said blade upon compression of said handles.

'7. Shears comprising a pair of substantially flat cutting blades having rearwardly extending bearing surfaces pivoted together, movable actuating handles carried by said shears in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said blades and disposed longitudinally of said blades, and means actuated by the combined movement of said handles for actuating said blades.

FERDINAND G. HEUMANN. 

